In-context searching

ABSTRACT

A system limits search results based on context information. The system obtains the context information and a search query, and obtains a set of references to documents in response to the search query. The system then filters the set of references based on the context information and presents the filtered set of references to a user.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/154,050, filed Jun. 6, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/869,513, filed Oct. 9, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No.7,962,469, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/734,901, filed Dec. 13, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,380, which is anonprovisional of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/171,019,filed Dec. 15, 1999. The entire contents of all of the aboveapplications are herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to information retrieval systemsand, more particularly, to systems and methods for performing in-contextsearching.

B. Description of Related Art

Conventional techniques for searching a hypertext medium, such as theWorld Wide Web (“web”), are replete with deficiencies. For example,current search engines permit only keyword searching, possibly extendedby features, such as restricting the answer set to a given domain or ona given host. These search engines do not, however, permit searchresults to be restricted to return results related to a defined set ofinformation, such as Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

As a result, there exists a need for a mechanism that provides searchresults that are related to a defined set of information, such as URLs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention address thisand other needs by providing mechanisms for limiting results of a searchquery to links related to a given set of information, such as URLs. As aresult, a user may be presented with more relevant search results.

In accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadlydescribed herein, a system limits search results based on contextinformation. The system obtains the context information and a searchquery, and obtains a set of references to documents in response to thesearch query. The system then filters the set of references based on thecontext information and presents the filtered set of references.

In another implementation consistent with the present invention, a webbrowser includes instructions for obtaining a set of addresses;instructions for obtaining one or more search terms; and instructionsfor generating a search query from the one or more search terms. The webbrowser further includes instructions for obtaining a list of referencesto documents based on the search query; instructions for filtering thelist of references based on the set of addresses; and instructions forpresenting the filtered list of references.

In yet another implementation consistent with the present invention, amethod filters a list of references to documents obtained as a result ofa search performed by a client. The method includes receiving contextinformation from the client, obtaining a list of references to documentsobtained as a result of a search, and identifying one or more of thereferences in the list of references that are related to the contextinformation. The method further includes creating a filtered list ofreferences using the identified references and sending the filtered listof references to the client.

In a further implementation consistent with the present invention, aserver tailors a search by a client based on context information. Theserver obtains context information, obtains one or more search termsfrom the client, and generates a set of references to documents based onthe one or more search terms. The server filters the set of referencesbased on the context information and outputs the filtered set ofreferences to the client.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the inventionand, together with the description, explain the invention. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which systems and methodsconsistent with the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client of FIG. 1 in animplementation consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium used by theclients of FIG. 1 according to an implementation consistent with thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface thatincludes the browser assistant of FIG. 3 according to an implementationconsistent with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of a server of FIG. 1 according to animplementation consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of exemplary processing for performing in-contextsearching in accordance with an implementation consistent with thepresent invention;

FIG. 7A illustrates example links with which the user might bepresented;

FIG. 7B illustrates example links with which the user might bepresented;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of another exemplary network in which systems andmethods consistent with the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of exemplary processing for performing in-contextsearching in accordance with an alternate implementation consistent withthe present invention; and

FIG. 10 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface that thesearch engine of FIG. 8 may provide in accordance with an implementationconsistent with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsidentify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of theinvention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents.

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention filter searchresults to return only results related to a defined set of information,such as URLs. As a result, a user is presented with more relevant linksthan obtained by conventional information retrieval systems.

Exemplary Network with Browser Assistant

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which systems andmethods consistent with the present invention may be implemented. Thenetwork 100 may include multiple clients 110 connected to multipleservers 120-130 via a network 140. The network 140 may include a localarea network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, suchas the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, theInternet, a similar or dissimilar network, or a combination of networks.Two clients 110 and three servers 120-130 have been illustrated asconnected to network 140 in FIG. 1 for simplicity. In practice, theremay be more or less clients and servers. Also, in some instances, aclient may perform the functions of a server and a server may performthe functions of a client.

The clients 110 may include devices, such as wireless telephones,personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), lap tops, etc.,threads or processes running on these devices, and/or objects executableby these devices. The servers 120-130 may include server devices,threads, and/or objects that operate upon, search, or maintain documentsin a manner consistent with the present invention. The clients 110 andservers 120-130 may connect to the network 140 via wired, wireless, oroptical connections.

In an implementation consistent with the present invention, the server120 may include a search engine 125 usable by the clients 110. Theservers 130 may store documents accessible by the clients 110.

Exemplary Client Architecture

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client 110 in an implementationconsistent with the present invention. The client 110 may include a bus210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a read only memory (ROM) 240, astorage device 250, one or more input devices 260, one or more outputdevices 270, and a communication interface 280. The bus 210 may includeone or more conductors that permit communication among the components ofthe client 110.

The processor 220 may include any type of conventional processor ormicroprocessor that interprets and executes instructions. The mainmemory 230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type ofdynamic storage device that stores information and instructions forexecution by the processor 220. The ROM 240 may include a conventionalROM device or another type of static storage device that stores staticinformation and instructions for use by the processor 220. The storagedevice 250 may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium andits corresponding drive.

The input devices 260 may include one or more conventional mechanismsthat permit a user to input information to the client 110, such as akeyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms,etc. The output devices 270 may include one or more conventionalmechanisms that output information to the user, including a display, aprinter, a speaker, etc. The communication interface 280 may include anytransceiver-like mechanism that enables the client 110 to communicatewith other devices and/or systems. For example, the communicationinterface 280 may include mechanisms for communicating with anotherdevice or system via a network, such as network 140.

As will be described in detail below, the clients 110, consistent withthe present invention, perform certain searching-related operations. Theclients 110 may perform these operations in response to processor 220executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium,such as memory 230. A computer-readable medium may be defined as one ormore memory devices and/or carrier waves.

The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as the data storage device 250, or fromanother device via the communication interface 280. The softwareinstructions contained in memory 230 causes processor 220 to performprocesses that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement processes consistent with the presentinvention. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software.

Exemplary Computer-Readable Medium

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium used by theclients 110 according to an implementation consistent with the presentinvention. In this implementation, the computer-readable medium includesmemory 230. The memory 230 may include an operating system 310, browsersoftware 320, browser assistant software 330, miscellaneous othersoftware 340, and miscellaneous data 350.

The operating system 310 may include conventional operating systemsoftware, such as the Windows, Unix, or Linux operating systems. Thebrowser software 320 may include conventional web browser software, suchas the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator browsers.

The browser assistant software 330 may include a plug-in, an applet, adynamic link library (DLL), or a similar executable object or process.The client 110 may obtain the plug-in from the server 120 or from athird party, such as a third party server, disk, tape, network, CD-ROM,etc. Alternatively, the plug-in may be pre-installed on the client 110.

In another implementation consistent with the present invention, thebrowser assistant 330 is part of the browser 320. In thisimplementation, the browser 320 performs the functions of the browserassistant 330. In yet another implementation, the browser assistant 330is a process separate from and runs concurrently with the browser 320.In this implementation, the browser assistant 330 may interface betweenthe browser 320 and the network 140.

The browser assistant 330 may be automatically activated upon initiationof the browser 320. Alternatively, the browser assistant 330 may beactivated when instructed by a user. In either case, the browserassistant 330 may take the form of a graphical user interface, such as atool bar, software button, or menu, that provides an extension to thebrowser 320.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface 400 thatincludes a browser assistant (BA) 330 according to an implementationconsistent with the present invention. The graphical user interface 400illustrated in FIG. 4 shows three forms of the browser assistant 330: atool bar 410, a software button 420, and a menu 430. The browserassistant 330 may take other forms.

The tool bar 410 includes software buttons and/or menus selectable by auser to initiate different operations by the browser assistant 330. Inthis case, a user may activate a function of the browser assistant 330by selecting one of the software buttons and/or menus. The softwarebutton 420 may be selectable by a user to initiate the browser assistant330 functionality. In this case, a user may activate a function of thebrowser assistant 330 by selecting the button using, for example, amouse. The menu 430 may provide a list of functions that the browserassistant 330 is capable of performing. A user may select from the listto activate the browser assistant 330 and instruct the browser assistant330 to perform the desired function.

As described in more detail below, the browser assistant 330 may performmany searching-related functions to enhance a user's search experience.The browser assistant 330 may attach to the browser 320 to provideadditional functionality to the user.

Returning to FIG. 3, the miscellaneous other software 340 andmiscellaneous data 350 may include programs and data used by the client110 to perform searching-related and non-searching-related operations.

Exemplary Server Architecture

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of the server 120 according to animplementation consistent with the present invention. The servers 130may be similarly configured.

The server 120 may include a bus 510, a processor 520, a memory 530, oneor more input devices 540, one or more output devices 550, and acommunication interface 560. The bus 510 permits communication among thecomponents of the server 120. The processor 520 may include any type ofconventional processor or microprocessor that interprets and executesinstructions. The memory 530 may include a RAM or another type ofdynamic storage device that stores information and instructions forexecution by the processor 520; a ROM or another type of static storagedevice that stores static information and instructions for use by theprocessor 520; and/or some other type of magnetic or optical recordingmedium and its corresponding drive.

The input devices 540 may include one or more conventional mechanismsthat permit an operator to input information into the server 120, suchas a keyboard, mouse, pen, etc. The output devices 550 may include oneor more conventional mechanisms that output information to the operator,including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. The communicationinterface 560 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enablesthe server 120 to communicate with other devices and systems via anetwork, such as the network 140.

As will be described in detail below, the server 120, consistent withthe present invention, performs certain searching-related operations.The server 120 may perform these operations in response to processor 520executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium,such as memory 530. The software instructions may be read into memory530 from another computer-readable medium or from another device via thecommunication interface 560. The software instructions contained inmemory 530 causes processor 520 to perform processes that will bedescribed later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in placeof or in combination with software instructions to implement processesconsistent with the present invention. Thus, the present invention isnot limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry andsoftware.

Exemplary Processing for in-Context Searching Using Browser Assistant

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of exemplary processing for performing in-contextsearching in accordance with an implementation consistent with thepresent invention. Processing may begin with a user activating webbrowser software, such as browser 320 (FIG. 3), and possibly browserassistant software, such as the browser assistant 330, on a client, suchas client 110 (FIG. 1). The user may then provide an address, such as aURL, of a document to the browser 320 or a query that the browser 320 orbrowser assistant 330 may use to obtain one or more addresses of (orlinks to) documents using a search engine, such as the search engine 125maintained by the server 120. The user may then use the browser 320 tobrowse the network 140 in a conventional manner.

The browser assistant 330 may obtain a set of context addresses, such asURLs [act 610]. The browser assistant 330 may use different techniquesto identify URLs for the set of context URLs. Some of these techniquesmay occur while the user browses the network and other techniques mayoccur at other times. According to one technique, the browser assistant330 may use the URL of the document currently displayed by the browser320 as the set of context URLs.

According to another technique, the browser assistant 330 may identifythe URLs for the set of context URLs using a favorites list. To supporta favorites list, the browser assistant 330 may provide the user withthree interactive software buttons: add-to-favorites-list;remove-from-favorites-list; and search-with-favorites-list. Whilebrowsing, the user can add the URL of the document currently displayedby the browser 320 to the favorites list by selecting theadd-to-favorites-list button. The browser assistant 330 may display thefavorites list when instructed by the user. The user may remove URLsfrom the favorites list by selecting or highlighting them and selectingthe remove-from-favorites-list button. The user may then search usingthe favorites list by selecting the search-with-favorites-list button.

According to a further technique, the browser assistant 330 may identifythe URLs or categories of URLs for the set of context URLs using apreferences list (i.e., a list of URLs specific to a particularinformation need). After the information need is satisfied, the user maydelete the preferences list or retain it with an appropriate label forfuture use. To support a preferences list, the browser assistant 330 mayprovide the user with four interactive software buttons:add-to-positive-preferences-list; add-to-negative-preferences-list;remove-from-preferences-list; and search-with-preferences-list.

To add a URL, the user may select the add-to-positive-preferences-listor add-to-negative-preferences-list buttons to add the URL of thedocument currently displayed by the browser 320 to the preferences list.The add-to-positive-preferences-list button may add URLs to thepreferences list that are on-topic to the information need. Theadd-to-negative-preferences-list button may add URLs to the preferenceslist that are off-topic to the information need. The browser assistant330 may use the on-topic and off-topic URLs when analyzing URLs returnedas a result of a search. The browser assistant 330 may display thepreferences list when instructed by the user. The user may remove URLsfrom the preferences list by selecting or highlighting them andselecting the remove-from-preferences-list button. The user may thensearch using the preferences list by selecting thesearch-with-preferences-list button.

To add a category, the user may instruct the browser 320 or browserassistant 330 to display a hierarchical directory of categories, such asthe open directories found at www.dmoz.org or directory.google.com or asimilar directory possibly maintained by the server 120 or one of theservers 130. To view a directory, the user may provide the address ofthe directory to the browser 320 or browser assistant 330 or select anadditional interactive software button (e.g., add-category button)provided by the browser assistant 330.

The browser assistant 330 may recognize the address given by the user asa URL for a directory or detect selection of the add-category button.The browser assistant 330 may then display the hierarchical directory tothe user. In an implementation consistent with the present invention,the browser assistant 330 may modify the hierarchical directory displayto include selection boxes to facilitate the selection of one or morecategories and/or subcategories by the user.

The user may select one or more of the categories or subcategories inthe hierarchical directory and then select theadd-to-positive-preferences-list or add-to-negative-preferences-listbutton. The browser assistant 330 may then recognize, using conventionaltechniques, the category or subcategory selected by the user. For thecategory or subcategory selected, the browser assistant 330 may obtain alist of URLs. To do this, the browser assistant 330 may communicate withthe server maintaining the directory or may record this informationitself. These URLs may then be added to the set of context URLs.

According to another technique, the browser assistant 330 may obtain theURLs for the set of context URLs from a server, such as server 130. Forexample, an author of a document stored by the server 130 may provide(e.g., hardcode) a list of URLs with the document. When the userperforms a search or otherwise indicates while viewing the document, theserver 130 may provide the list of URLs to the browser assistant 330.The browser assistant 330 may then add the URLs to the set of contextURLs.

According to yet another technique, the browser assistant 330 mayidentify the URLs for the set of context URLs using a combination of theabove techniques.

Thereafter, when the user desires to perform an in-context search, theuser may enter one or more terms of a query. The browser assistant 330may generate a request to query a search engine, such as the searchengine 125 maintained by the server 120, using the terms entered by theuser. The browser assistant 330 may then send the query request to thesearch engine 125 [act 620]. In response to the request, the searchengine 125 may generate data that contains the search results and sendthe search results to the browser assistant 330 [act 630]. In animplementation consistent with the present invention, the search engine125 provides the search results as a HyperText Markup Language (HTML)document, similar to search results provided by conventional searchengines. Alternatively, the search engine 125 may provide the searchresults according to a protocol agreed upon by the search engine 125 andthe browser assistant 330.

In an implementation consistent with the present invention, the searchresults include references (e.g., links) to documents (e.g., web pages)and possibly a textual description of the links. In anotherimplementation, the search results include references (e.g., links) todirectory nodes within a hierarchical directory and possibly textualdescriptions for the directory nodes. In other implementations, thesearch results include a combination of these links.

The browser assistant 330 receives the list of result links from thesearch engine 125 [act 640]. If the list of result links takes the formof an HTML document, then the browser assistant 330 may parse thedocument to determine the links that are search results.

If a context set of URLs has been specified, as described above, thebrowser assistant 330 may filter the result links and discard all linksthat are not related to one or more of the set of context URLs [act650]. In an implementation consistent with the present invention, thebrowser assistant 330 performs the filtering itself. The browserassistant 330 may consider two links related if they are on the samehost. In this case, the browser assistant 330 may determine relatednessby comparing URLs in the context set with the URLs in the result links.Alternatively, the browser assistant 330 may test for relatedness bycomparing the text of documents corresponding to the URLs in the contextset with significant terms in documents corresponding to the resultlinks. In this case, the browser assistant 330 may maintain arepresentation of the text of documents corresponding to all of the URLsin the context set and may receive significant terms for documentscorresponding to the result links from the search engine 125 or anotherserver.

The browser assistant 330 may use other techniques to determine if thereis a related link (i.e., URL) in the context set. According to onetechnique, the browser assistant 330 considers two links related if theyare on the same topic from a predetermined set of topics, as determinedby conventional topic classifiers (i.e., classification-basedsimilarity). Conventional information retrieval systems permit theclassifications of documents, such as web pages, into sets of topics. D.Koller et al., “Hierarchically Classifying Documents Using Very FewWords,” International Conference on Machine Learning, 1997, pp. 170-178,and D. Lewis, “Evaluating and Optimizing Autonomous Text ClassificationSystems,” SIGIR 95: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual InternationalACM-SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in InformationRetrieval, July 1995, pp. 246-254, describe two possible conventionalclassification techniques.

According to another technique, the browser assistant 330 considers twolinks as related if an analysis of user access patterns shows thataccesses of the documents relating to the two links by users on the webare highly correlated (i.e., access-based similarity). In this case, thebrowser assistant 330 may maintain or obtain, for each link in thesearch engine index; a list of users who accessed the link.

According to yet another technique, the browser assistant 330 considerstwo links as related if a comparison of the full text of the documentsrelating to the two links shows a similarity (i.e., text-basedsimilarity). The browser assistant 330 may use a conventionalinformation retrieval process that determines the textual similaritybetween two documents. In this case, the browser assistant 330 maymaintain or obtain the text of each document in the network in aconvenient form (e.g., as a vector of terms and weights).

According to a further technique, the browser assistant 330 considerstwo links as related if an analysis of the linkage in the websurrounding the pair of links shows evidence of their relatedness (i.e.,link-based similarity). In other words, two links may be consideredrelated if one or more documents contain both of the links. In thiscase, the related-links filter may use a conventional analysis process,such as the one described in J. Dean et al., “Finding Related Web Pagesin the World Wide Web,” Eighth International World Wide Web Conference,May 1999, pp. 389-401.

According to another technique, the browser assistant 330 may determinelink relatedness using a combination of the above techniques. Forexample, a score may be calculated for each of the above techniques andthe scores may be combined in some manner to achieve a score for a pairof links. This score may be used in determining the relatedness of thelinks.

The above techniques may be combined in other ways. For example, thelink-based similarity and text-based similarity may be combined todetermine relatedness. In this case, for each co-citing document (i.e.,a document that contains references to both of the links beingconsidered), the keywords around the references in the co-citingdocument may be considered to weight (i.e., downgrade or upgrade) therelatedness score. For example, suppose an individual's homepagedescribes the individual's fascination with web design and the countryof Java. Suppose further that the homepage contains citations to a Java(computer programming language) document and a Java (country) document.Under strictly link-based similarity, the pair of documents would beconsidered related because they are both cited by the same document.Under the combined approach, however, the words around the Javaprogramming language and Java country citations would be considered andwould likely lead to the conclusion that the documents are unrelated. Asa result, the relatedness determination would be downgraded for thispair of documents.

The above techniques may be combined in yet other ways. For example, thelink-based similarity and classification-based similarity may becombined to determine relatedness. In this case, for each co-citingdocument, the text of the citations corresponding to a given pair oflinks may be classified using a conventional classification process.Then, the relatedness score may be weighted (i.e., downgraded orupgraded) based on the similarity of the classifications of the text ofthe citations.

In another implementation consistent with the present invention, thebrowser assistant 330 performs the above filtering with the aid of aserver, such as the server 130. In this implementation, the browserassistant 330 provides the server 130 with the result links and the setof context URLs. The server 130 may then filter the result links, using,for example, a related-links filter. The related-links filter mayinclude software and/or hardware that filters the result links, possiblyusing one of the techniques described above, to remove links that arenot related to URLs in the context set. The server 130 may then send thefiltered result links to the browser assistant 330.

Once the filtering has been performed either by the browser assistant330 or another device, such as the server 130, the browser assistant 330presents the filtered result links to the user [act 660]. For example,the browser assistant 330 may present the filtered result links as a webpage in a browser window. Alternatively, the browser assistant 330 maypresent the filtered result links as a list of selectable items within auser interface of the browser assistant 330. In one instance, the userinterface of the browser assistant 330 may include a pull-down or pop-upmenu. In another instance, the user interface may include a side-bar ora scrolling list.

The browser assistant 330 may also present links related to the links inthe filtered result links, either in conjunction to or separately fromthe filtered result links. In this case, the browser assistant 330 mayquery a server, such as the server 130, that includes a related-linksfinder that identifies related links using one or more techniquessimilar to the technique(s) used by the related-links filter, asdescribed above. The browser assistant 330 may send a query to theserver 130 for each link individually or for all links collectively. Theserver 130 may then identify related links and return them to thebrowser assistant 330. Alternatively, the browser assistant 330 mayidentify the related links itself.

If the search engine 125 implements a directory hierarchy, the resultsof a search usually consist of a list of top ranked directory hierarchynodes. In this case, the browser assistant 330 may download the linkscorresponding to the top ranked directory hierarchy nodes and displaythem instead of or in addition to the text of the top ranked directoryhierarchy nodes.

Once the filtered result links and the related links, if any, areidentified, the browser assistant 330 may rank them in some manner, suchas by assigning scores to the links or by alphabetizing them.

To illustrate the above processing, suppose that a user desires to finddocuments directed to the country of Java. First suppose that the usersimply entered “Java” into a web browser. In this case, the user mightbe presented with links for documents directed to the Java computerprogramming language. FIG. 7A illustrates example links with which theuser might be presented. As shown in FIG. 7A, all of the links aredirected to the Java programming language and not the country of Java.

Now suppose that the user used in-context searching and that the list ofcontext URLs included a single link to travel.yahoo.com. In this case,the user might be presented with links for documents directed to thecountry of Java. FIG. 7B illustrates example links with which the usermight be presented. As shown in FIG. 7B, all of the links are directedto the country of Java, as the user desired.

Exemplary Network without Browser Assistant

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of an alternate network 800 in whichsystems and methods consistent with the present invention may beimplemented. The network 800 may include multiple clients 810 connectedto multiple servers 820-830 via a network 840. The network 840 mayinclude a LAN, a WAN, a telephone network, such as the PSTN, anintranet, the Internet, a similar or dissimilar network, or acombination of networks. The clients 810 and servers 820-830 may connectto the network 840 via wired, wireless, or optical connections. Twoclients 810 and three servers 820-830 have been illustrated as connectedto network 840 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or lessclients and servers. Also, in some instances, a client may perform thefunctions of a server and a server may perform the functions of aclient.

The clients 810 may include devices, such as wireless telephones,personal computers, PDAs, lap tops, etc., threads or processes runningon these devices, and/or objects executable by these devices. Theclients 810 may be configured similar to the clients 110 in FIG. 1.Unlike the clients 110, however, the clients 810 do not include browserassistant software.

The servers 820-830 may include server devices, threads, and/or objectsthat operate upon, search, or maintain documents in a manner consistentwith the present invention. The server 820 may include an enhancedsearch engine 825 and may be configured similar to the server 120 inFIG. 1. The servers 830 may also be configured similar to the servers130 in FIG. 1.

Exemplary Processing for in-Context Searching without Using BrowserAssistant

In an alternate implementation consistent with the present invention, anenhanced search engine, such as the search engine 825, may perform theresult link filtering. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of exemplary processing forperforming in-context searching in accordance with this alternateimplementation. Processing may begin with a search engine, such as theenhanced search engine 825 on the server 820, periodically crawling thenetwork 840 [act 910]. The search engine 825 may use a spider (i.e., aprogram that crawls a network to locate publicly accessible resources,such as web pages or other documents) to locate documents on the network840. For each document located, the search engine 825 may save a copy ofit [act 920]. The search engine 825 may also create an index based onthe located documents [act 930].

When a user decides to perform a search of the network 840, the user mayactivate a web browser, such as the browser 320. The user may then usethe browser 320 to access a search engine, such as the search engine825, or a web directory. Assuming the user desires to use the searchengine 825, the search engine 825 may provide a graphical user interfaceto the user via the browser 320 [act 940].

FIG. 10 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface (GUI) 1000that the search engine 825 may provide in accordance with animplementation consistent with the present invention. The GUI 1000 mayprompt the user to enter one or more search terms to include 1010 orexclude 1020 in the search results. The GUI 1000 may also prompt theuser to provide a URL 1030 or category 1040 for the context set of URLs1030. The category may correspond to categories within a hierarchicaldirectory, such as an open directory, maintained by the search engine825 or by another device or server. For example, the search engine 825may maintain a hierarchical directory based on its periodic crawling ofthe network 840. For each category in the hierarchical directory, thesearch engine 825 may record a list of URLs and other information thatcorrespond to that category. The search engine 825 may present aselectable list of categories to the user.

Returning to FIG. 9, the search engine 825 may receive the search termsand context information, such as URL(s) and/or category selection(s),from the user via the browser 320 [act 950]. Instead of requiring theuser to enter the URL(s) and/or category selection(s), the browser 320may automatically provide this information. In this case, the user mayestablish the information at some earlier time for recordation by thebrowser 320. For example, the browser 320 may provide a favorites orpreferences list of the user.

In another implementation consistent with the present invention, thesearch engine 825 receives the search terms and context information fromanother server, such as server 830. In this implementation, the user mayaccess a document on the server 130. Suppose, for example, that thedocument provides a search box, as known in the art (e.g., seewww.washingtonpost.com for a document that provides a Google searchbox), that permits a user to enter one or more search terms and sendsthe search terms to the search engine 825. Suppose further that theauthor of the document has provided (e.g., hardcoded) a list of contextURLs that may be used whenever a search is conducted from this document.Therefore, when the user conducts a search using the search box in thedocument, the server 130 may send the search terms and the context URLsto the search engine 825.

In response, the search engine 825 may generate data that contains thesearch results in a conventional manner [act 960]. As described above,the search results may include a list of references (or links) todocuments (e.g., web pages) and possibly a textual description of thelinks, references (or links) to directory nodes within a hierarchicaldirectory and possibly textual descriptions for the directory nodes, ora combination of these links.

The search engine 825 may then filter the list using one of thetechniques described above [act 970]. For example, the search engine mayuse classification, access, text, or link-based filtering or acombination of these filtering techniques. The search engine 825 maysend the filtered result links to the browser 320 for presentation tothe user [act 980].

The browser 320 may receive the list of result links from the searchengine 825. If the list of result links takes the form of an HTMLdocument, then the browser 320 may parse the document to determine thelinks that form the search results. The browser 320 may then present theresult links to the user in a conventional manner.

While the foregoing acts have been described as being performed by theserver 820, the acts may be performed by one of the servers 830 in otherimplementations consistent with the present invention.

CONCLUSION

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention permit a userto limit search results to a defined set of information, such as acontext set of URLs. As a result, the present invention providesmeaningful search results to the user.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides illustration and description, but is not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. Forexample, while a series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS.6 and 9, the order of the acts may be modified in other implementationsconsistent with the present invention.

Also, two separate network configurations have been described withregard to FIGS. 1 and 8. Other configurations or a combination ofconfigurations may occur in other implementations consistent with thepresent invention.

The scope of the invention is defined by the claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing, by one or moredevices, a user interface that is accessible via a browser on a clientdevice, the user interface including: a first field to receive a firstsearch term that is to be included in documents included within a set ofsearch results, and a plurality of: a second field to receive a secondsearch term that is to be excluded from the documents within the set ofsearch results, a third field to receive information regarding a website or a domain to which the set of search results will be restricted,a fourth field to receive information regarding a language to which theset of search results will be restricted; receiving, by the one or moredevices and from the client device, input including the first searchterm within the first field; receiving, by the one or more devices andfrom the client device, inputs including a plurality of: input includingthe second search term within the second field, input including theinformation regarding the web site or the domain within the third field,or input including the information regarding the language within thefourth field; identifying, by the one or more devices, a set ofdocuments; filtering, by the one or more devices, the set of documentsto obtain a filtered set of documents, documents in the filtered set ofdocuments: including the first search term, excluding the second searchterm when the input including the second search term is received, beingassociated with the web site or the domain when the input including theinformation regarding the web site or the domain is received, orcontaining text in the language when the input including the informationregarding the language is received; generating, by the one or moredevices, a list of links that point to the documents in the filtered setof documents; and providing, by the one or more devices, the list oflinks to the client device.
 2. The method of claim 1, where the userinterface further includes a fifth field to receive informationregarding a particular category of a plurality of categories, where themethod further comprises: receiving, from the client device, inputincluding the information regarding the particular category, and wherethe documents, in the filtered set of documents, are associated with theparticular category.
 3. The method of claim 2, where the plurality ofcategories corresponds to categories within a hierarchical directory,and where the method further comprises: periodically crawling a network,associated with the one or more devices, to maintain the hierarchicaldirectory.
 4. The method of claim 2, where the particular categoryidentifies a list of Uniform Resource Locators and additionalinformation corresponding to the particular category.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: providing context information that includesinformation identifying one or more Uniform Resource Locators andinformation identifying one or more categories, the context informationbeing provided by the one or more devices without input from the clientdevice, where the documents, in the filtered set of documents, areassociated with the context information.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherethe user interface includes the first field, the second field, and atleast one of the third field or the fourth field, and where receivingthe inputs includes: receiving the input including the second searchterm within the second field and at least one of: the input includingthe information regarding the web site or the domain within the thirdfield, or the input including the information regarding the languagewithin the fourth field.
 7. The method of claim 1, where the userinterface includes the first field, the second field, the third field,and the fourth field, and where receiving the inputs includes: receivingthe input including the second search term within the second field, theinput including the information regarding the web site or the domainwithin the third field, and the input including the informationregarding the language within the fourth field.
 8. A system comprising:one or more devices to: provide a user interface to a client device, theuser interface including: a first field to receive a first search termthat is to be included in documents included within a set of searchresults, and a plurality of:  a second field to receive a second searchterm that is to be excluded from the documents within the set of searchresults,  a third field to receive information regarding a web site or adomain to which the set of search results will be restricted,  a fourthfield to receive selection of information regarding a language to whichthe set of search results will be restricted; receive, from the clientdevice, input including the first search term within the first field;receive, from the client device, inputs including a plurality of: inputincluding the second search term within the second field, inputincluding the information regarding the web site or the domain withinthe third field, or input including the information regarding thelanguage selected via the fourth field; identify a set of documents;filter the set of documents to obtain a filtered set of documents,documents in the filtered set of documents including the first searchterm and: excluding the second search term when the input including thesecond search term is received, being associated with the web site orthe domain when the input including the information regarding the website or the domain is received, or containing text in the language whenthe input including the information regarding the language is received;and provide information identifying the documents in the filtered set ofdocuments.
 9. The system of claim 8, where the one or more devices arefurther to: provide context information that includes at least one ofinformation identifying a link or information identifying a category,the context information being provided by the one or more deviceswithout input from the client device, where the documents in thefiltered set of documents are associated with the context information.10. The system of claim 9, where the context information includes one ormore links.
 11. The system of claim 8, where the user interface includesthe first field, the third field, and at least one of the second fieldor the fourth field, and where, when receiving the inputs, the one ormore devices are to: receive the input including the informationregarding the web site or the domain within the third field and at leastone of: the input including the second search term within the secondfield, or the input including the information regarding the languagewithin the fourth field.
 12. The system of claim 8, where the userinterface includes the first field, the fourth field, and at least oneof the second field or the third field, and where, when receiving theinputs, the one or more devices are to: receive the input including theinformation regarding the language within the fourth field and at leastone of: the input including the second search term within the secondfield, or the input including the information regarding the web site orthe domain within the third field.
 13. The system of claim 8, where theuser interface further includes a fifth field to receive selection ofinformation regarding a particular category of a plurality ofcategories, where the one or more devices are further to: receive, fromthe client device, input including the information regarding theparticular category selected via the fifth field, and where thedocuments, in the filtered set of documents, are associated with theparticular category.
 14. The system of claim 13, where the plurality ofcategories corresponds to categories within a hierarchical directory,and where the one or more devices are further to: periodically crawl anetwork, associated with the one or more devices, to maintain thehierarchical directory.
 15. The system of claim 13, where the particularcategory identifies one or more links and additional informationcorresponding to the particular category.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructionscomprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or moredevices, cause the one or more devices to: provide a user interface, theuser interface including: a first field to receive a first search termthat is to be included in documents included within a set of searchresults, and a plurality of:  a second field to receive a second searchterm that is to be excluded from the documents included within the setof search results,  a third field to receive information regarding a website or a domain to which the set of search results will be restricted, a fourth field to receive selection of information regarding a languageto which the set of search results will be restricted; receive the firstsearch term within the first field; receive a plurality of: the secondsearch term within the second field, the information regarding the website or the domain within the third field, or the information regardingthe language within the fourth field; identify a set of documents;filter the set of documents to obtain a filtered set of documents,documents in the filtered set of documents including the first searchterm and: excluding the second search term when the second search termis received, being associated with the web site or the domain when theinformation regarding the web site or the domain is received, orcontaining text in the language when the information regarding thelanguage is received; and provide information identifying the documentsin the filtered set of documents.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 16, where the instructions furthercomprise: one or more instructions to receive context information thatincludes at least one of information identifying a link or informationidentifying a category, where the documents, in the filtered set ofdocuments, are associated with the context information.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, where theinstructions further comprise: one or more instructions to receiveinformation regarding a particular category of a plurality ofcategories, and where the documents, in the filtered set of documents,are associated with the particular category.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 18, where the particular categoryidentifies links and additional information corresponding to theparticular category.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 19, where the plurality of categories corresponds to categorieswithin a hierarchical directory, and where the instructions furtherinclude: one or more instructions to periodically crawl a network,associated with the one or more devices, to maintain the hierarchicaldirectory.